This book aims to understand how “The Wealth of Nations” during the past century has been influenced by the dynamics of big business. All the authors recognize big business, particularly large industrial enterprises, as a key microeconomic agent that employs such productive assets as raw materials, machinery and equipment, human resources, and technological knowledge on a vast scale. How such firms emerged and evolved in various economic, political, and social settings constitutes a significant part of the modern development of international as well as national economies (whose “wealth” we consider as equivalent to “national income” in modern economic terms). This historical review of the contributions of large industrial enterprises seems particularly valuable at this time when significant scholarly work has analyzed the role of small firms, networks, and alliances. The essays in this collection help to relate such analyses to the contributing and complementary roles and functions of the large firm, past and present.

The collection consists of an introductory part (Part I), the central section on country experiences (Part II), and a segment of commentaries on the country papers (Part III). The introductory part consists of this overview (Chapter 1) and a chapter on the contributions of the large industrial enterprises to modern economic growth (Chapter 2). The two chapters provide a point of reference, a setting to which the reader can relate the narratives told, the interpretations made, and the insights offered in this wide-ranging, perceptive set of chapters that deal with the historical evolution of large firms and their place in national economies.